Barghouti to be Placed in Solitary Confinement Indefinitely

Report: Barghouti to be placed in solitary confinement indefinitely for his statements calling for large Arab marches on Israel.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 8/17/2011, 11:46 PM

Marwan Barghouti

Flash 90

Arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison for his involvement in deadly terror attacks against Israelis, was notified on Wednesday that he will be placed in solitary confinement for an undetermined period of time, the PA-based WAFA news agency reported.

Issa Qaraqi, The Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, claimed in a conversation with the news agency this decision was made in response to a request by a high-level Israeli officials under the pretext of ‘Marwan’s latest statements’.

‘Marwan’s latest statements’ refers to Barghouti’s recently writing from his jail cell an appeal for ‘millions’ of PA Arabs to march in September to show support for the PA’s attempt to achieve a unilateral recognition of a state in the UN in September.

Last week Barghouti warned that a planned United States veto of such an attempt will not only cause disturbances in the PA, but also mass protests elsewhere in the Arab world that would bring an end to the U.S. role in the region.

This would not be the first time Barghouti is placed in solitary confinement. Last month he was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks after a cellular phone was found in his prison cell during a routine patrol by the Israeli Prison Service.

Even from his prison cell, Barghouti has remained an important PA political figure and his name has come up as contender for PA President or Prime Minister.

Qaraqi told WAFA he considers the decision to place Barghouti in solitary confinement again to be illegal and dangerous, warning it could lead to escalations of protests in prisons.